Chickasaw County Holds Groundhog Day Ceremony

HOUSTON, Miss. (WCBI) – The town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania is about a fourteen hour drive from our area, but some Chickasaw County residents thought they’d save people the trip to see a Groundhog Day ceremony.

“It’s just a little community thing where a bunch of Christian men in the community get together and celebrate Groundhog Day,” said event member Larry Parker.

For the ninth year, Chickasaw County residents attempted to foresee the weather with their trusty groundhog.

“His name is J.W.,” said Parker. “We have a guy in our group that had a brother, and his name was J.W. They were talking about the groundhog sleeping a lot, and he said well that’s the way it is with my brother J.W. He said he sleeps a lot, so that’s how the groundhog got its name.”

While the event is free, donations were taken for a good cause.

“There’s a jug in the store, there, classified as St. Jude,” said event member Tony Gregory. “Any proceeds made will be sent to St. Jude hospital.”

While J.W. wasn’t doing much talking about shadow sightings, we thought we’d grab a quick interview with his prairie dog partner.

Sadly, he wasn’t talking either, but shortly after the people who came would hear the news from county sheriff, Jim Meyers.

“Chickasaw JW saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter,” said Meyers.

It’s chilling news for the viewers, but that didn’t stop the event from topping off with good food and fellowship.

“We have soup; we serve soup. The soup is free,” said Gregory.

“We get out here. We cook; we eat. We have fun and just have a great time,” said Parker.

So don’t store those jackets in the attic just yet, because as you saw the groundhog has spoken… sort of.

We’re in for six more weeks of winter.